Giottos Clamps

I'm looking for a Giottos MH665 clamp to convert a Giottos MH5400 ball head to an Arca plate fitting.

Does any body have one to sell?
or do you know who is a Giottos dealer in the UK?
or has anybody done the conversion another way?

I'd just fit a normal Quickmount to the 1/4" or 3/8" screw....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Novoflex-Q-Mount-Quick-Release-/321873192568?hash=item...

OR

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Heather-G-Series-CG-60-60mm-Screw-Knob-Quick-Release-C...

A pano head would be better, but more expensive....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Novoflex-Panorama-II-/321873192522?hash=item4af123264a...

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I did a quick search of Dutch sites and came up with nothing. B&H and Amazon.com seem to be the only places to have it.

Can't you just screw any Arca-Swiss type clamp into the existing clamp QR you have? Not ideal I realise.

You could also look at places like Really Right Stuff, or Kirk and see if they do an adaptor.

Be careful with Novoflex heads - their Arca-Swiss type plate is slightly different to standard I believe.

Algernon, I've done the Heather type conversion on others heads but the Giottos locating key is smaller, allowing it to twist and come loose.

Gwyn, Same here with the search. The head is on a travel tripod with reverse folding legs, so the conversion can't obstruct the legs. You are right about some of the plates not fitting all clamps

i did the same thing a little while back

https://www.pentaxuser.com/forum/topic/tripod-qr-plate-53489

it works very well

https://www.pentaxuser.com/forum/topic/lens-plates-53936

Richard, can you remember the width of the key on the MH-1301 head. On my MH-5400 it is only 3mm and the groove in conversion plates I've used are nearer to 6mm

Thanks Richard

They are the same as most others at about 38.7mm wide, but made to a much higher tolerance of flatness and smoothness so they need good clamps to stop them sliding. Some of the Chinese clamps leave a lot to be desired. I have one on a pano head that won't hold any rail tight enough unless I tighten the the thumbscrew with a piece of leather wrapped round it to give me extra grip. I rarely use that now because I don't trust it. I replaced it with a Novoflex one.

The Novoflex clamps are a special quick type and hold solid without too much force and release quickly.

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Thanks for all your help. I've ended up with one of these from Ebay link